We of the Never-Never eBook

Bravely the worn, bowed shoulders took up the burden
of life again, and, as they squared to their load,
we slipped back to our anniversaries—­once
more Jack went bush for the schooling of his colts,
once more Mac and Dan went into the Katherine to “see
about the ordering of stores,” Tam going with
them; and as they rode out of the homestead, once more
we slipped, with the Dandy, into the Land of Wait-a-while—­waiting
once more for the wet to lift, for the waggons to
come, and for the Territory to rouse itself for another
year’s work.

Full of bright hopes, we rested in that Land of Wait-a-while,
speaking of the years to come, when the bush-folk
will have conquered the Never-Never and lain it at
the feet of great cities; and, waiting and resting,
made merry and planned plans, all unconscious of the
great shadow that was even then hovering over us.

CHAPTER XXV AND LAST

There is little more to tell. Just that old,
old story—­that sad refrain of the Kaffir
woman that we British-born can conquer anything but
Death.

All unaware, that scourge of the Wet crept back to
the homestead, and the great Shadow, closing in on
us, flung wide those gates of Death once more, and
turning, before passing through, beckoned to our Maluka
to follow. But at those open gates the Maluka
lingered a little while with those who were fighting
so fiercely and impotently to close them—­lingering
to teach us out of his own great faith that “Behind
all Shadows standeth God.” And then the
gates gently closing, a woman stood alone in that
little home that had been wrested, so merrily, out
of the very heart of Nature.

That is all the world need know. All else lies
deed in the silent hearts of the Men of the Never-Never,
in those great, silent hearts that came in to the
woman at her need; came in at the Dandy’s call,
and went out to her, and shut her in from all the
dangers and terror that beset her, quietly mourning
their own loss the while. And as those great hearts
mourned, ever and anon a long-drawn-out, sobbing cry
went up from the camp, as the tribe mourned for their
beloved dead—­their dead and ours—­our
Maluka, “the best Boss that ever a man struck.”